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It is very possible that during the influx of transfers choosing Bloomington over the offseason, Cam Camper's choice to commit to Indiana was swept under the rug.

A no-name receiver from a small junior college in Texas. He had no offers out of high school, and only standing 6-foot and weighing 160 pounds, that wasn't exactly a surprise.

Camper was all but ready to drop football and focus on school, but he figured he'd take a shot at Sam Houston State in Texas. Maybe he could be the next great underdog story?

He played basketball all four years of high school as well, but his specialty was the inverse of football, being tasked with shutting down the opposing team's best scorer.

“I never really got out of football until I graduated high school.. I kind of just shut it down, I had no offers or anything like that. I was just going to go to school," Camper explained.

It became apparent to Camper, a player who knows how good he is and holds himself to a higher standard, that being a special teams "dummy" as he described it, wasn't what he was meant to do.

After taking that shot at Sam Houston State and it inevitably not working out, Camper could have easily said that was it and not continued with football. Very few people could have blamed him.

But, he had caught the bug.

"After that first semester I had to get back in it," Camper said.

Cam decided to sit down with his mom and former coaches to plan out his next move. Trinity Valley Community College, a JUCO located in Athens, Texas had some interest in Camper coming out of high school. After his fall semester at Sam Houston State, he applied and there was still some mutual interest.

“I chatted with my mom and high school coach, I said this is what I think is going to work.”

Camper explained that he had former teammates on the team at Trinity, and they tried to explain what it was like there, but good or bad, it didn't seem to matter.

“I’m just trying to play football again," Camper said. "If they take me, fine. Whatever I gotta do.”

Even with the decision to transfer to Trinity Valley, and him having his heart set on continuing to play football, Camper knew something had to change if he wanted to get to be the player he is now.

The one thing that changed that he couldn't control was his growing four inches after he graduated high school. A definitive plus for any receiver, but Camper wanted to take it a step further.

The JUCO product partnered with his own trainer and ended up seeing drastic differences.

“I just knew something had to change," Camper added. "He gave me all the tools to come play out here.”

The end result was Camper putting on 20 pounds of muscle and becoming the player he is now. Funnily enough, Camper says this transformation has created sort of a challenge.

“Everybody can see me now," Camper laughed.

There's definitely no sneaking under the radar anymore.

However, the most popular trait about Cam Camper since learning about him when he joined in the spring is his work ethic. Tom Allen, Walt Bell, and Adam Henry have called him "coach Cam" for long he sticks around the facilities studying film, learning the playbook, and picking the brains of his coaches.

"He's the one we call 'Coach Cam' so he's always around the offices, always trying to learn the offense and all the intricate details," IU did receivers coach Adam Henry said. "He's a guy who doesn't say much, he just shows up, and goes to work. He works hard, he practices, he doesn't say much. If he has questions, he'll ask. But he's like a coach, we call him 'Coach Cam'."

But, when Camper is asked about the routine, he shrugs it off, saying this is something he finds absolutely necessary to succeed at this level.

This mindset started at Trinity Valley when coaches would track their player's time spent watching film, and it was ingrained in Camper's upbringing to never give half effort, his mother didn’t overly push him in any area of his life, but she made sure whatever he decided to do, he would put forth his best effort.

“She didn’t take any acting out in school," Camper said. "It was wall sits and push-up position when you get in trouble and I didn’t want any part of that.”

Furthermore, his time at Trinity Valley gave him some perspective, saying that everything he gets to take advantage of at Indiana, the facilities, the offices, everything a Big Ten program has to offer makes him want to put the extra work in and not see it as a chore.

“Stuff could be much worse, at one point I wasn’t playing football. Mentally it made me a little tougher.”

Camper went on to explain that he was hit with multiple injuries while at Trinity, a few of them came about when Camper felt like he had hit his peak. But, even though he said that put him into a little bit of a dark place, it didn't shake him. He dug deep, finished his time at Trinity, and is now a better player because of it.

Now that he's here, Camper has added to the already oversized wide receiver core. He feels he can really stretch the field, make plays across the middle and his sure hands are a huge plus.

“The transition has been smooth, the biggest thing was probably the speed of the game, it took me like a week to get it down," Camper said.

Tiawan Mullen and Jaylin Williams have played a big role in that transition. Helping challenge Camper and the rest of the receivers on a daily basis.

“It’s been fun," Camper said. "Every day I know I gotta come with it, they’re not going to let up. I know where they’re trying to be and they’re going to get there after this year… They’re going to wake me up a little bit.”

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